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by Parturia-sama07829
Summary: Jason Grace decided to visit Camp Jupiter once again after the war. And there he met the never-changing Reyna Arellano. Which of the two bombs will explode first? READ AND REVIEW! one-shot. HoH and BoO minor spoilers.


Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Heroes of Heroes of Olympus.

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><p>Reyna is at peace. For the past few weeks, she had been smiling a lot. She even received several comments on how much she changed. They said she's different; A <em>good<em> different. After the war with the giants, the glorious rise of Gaea and the revelation of the secret about her father to Nico di Angelo, she felt perfectly at ease; it's as if a big weight has been lifted off her chest.

Things had been going pretty well around Camp Jupiter, too. With fellow praetor, Frank Zhang's help and her striking debut, the camp was so much easier to manage now than before.

"_Before…" _she thought.

Yes, _before_, there were happy moments too; War games, quests, legionnaire training and Jason.

"_Wait. What?!"_ her eyes were wide as she thought about that last part. She's absolutely, definitely _not_ missing Jason.

"No. Jason already has a girlfriend. He's at Camp Half-blood now and besides… besides…" She didn't realize she said that a little too loud and was instantly snapped back to reality as her two metal dogs, Aurum and Argentum, growled. The dogs can detect anxiety, though she doesn't know how they do it with their metallic system and all, but right now, she's pretty anxious.

She absentmindedly picked a dagger at the side of her table and randomly etched marks on it. Her thoughts drifted to many things like: What if Juno never did the exchange program? What if Gaea never interrupted? What if the prophecy never happened? Could everything be back the way it was before, when it's just her and Jason? The thought made her cringe but before she could do something stupid and dramatic like cry, the door of the _principia_ opened and Dakota and Gwen saluted, regarding Reyna's presence.

Reyna set down her dagger and looked up with formality. "What is it?" She asked.

Dakota shook his bottle of kool-aid and spoke up, clearly slurring on his words. "Uh. I know it's a tiring day and all to disturb your uh, whatever it is you're doing. But, the situation is quite critical that we nee- Ow!"

He was cut off when Gwen elbowed him. She cleared her throat and seconded in a much straighter voice. "What Dakota was trying to say here is that, two demigod brothers stumbled along Camp Jupiter's entrance. Apparently, none of them knows about the whole demigod business going on or rather, they chose not to believe it. But they both carried weapons so we assumed they had been in a fight before they got here." Gwen finished.

"I don't seem to see what the problem is, except that it's quite rare to be receiving demigod siblings of the same mortal parent." Reyna hastily thought of Hylla and h**e**r.

Gwen smiled shyly before replying. "Ah. The older one demands for your presence. It seems he wants enlightenment from all of this."

Reyna raised her right brow and stood up. "Show me." She picked her dagger up, sheathed it and went outside with the two centurions.

XX

A large crowd gathered at the Field of Mars; Lares, fauns and members of different cohorts. They made way for Reyna as soon as they spotted her, but their eyes were still completely glued to a bewildered teenager standing before them.

He continued blabbering senselessly. "I demand to see the leader of this place! You can't give us the silent trea-". He was cut off as soon as he saw Reyna. Her whole aura radiated leadership as she plastered her best mess-with-me-and-I'll-beat-you-to-a-pulp look.

However, he still continued yelling; this time though, it's clearly directed towards Reyna. He walked toward her with a sword in hand. "You." He pointed one finger and the whole camp gasped. They all knew better than to piss Reyna off. Today was an exception though. She calmly looked at the boy with sympathy.

Since he came this close to her, she used the time to study his features. He had this wild look in his eyes as if he'd just woken up from a nightmare. He's a few inches taller than her, probably the same age and has a golden brown hair matched with blue eyes.

"Where are we? Who are these people? And what is this demigod thing?" he continued yelling. Reyna sighed.

"You are in Camp Jupiter. These people are from the legion," she stared, "but as for the last question, I believe my partner has enough time to explain it to you. Frank!" She called but Vitellius, one of the Lares, raised his hand and answered.

"What is it, Vitellius?"

"Ah… I'm afraid our dear Frank has another business with this girl, Hazel. They went on a walk just an hour ago, Praetor."

"Tsk." Reyna gritted her teeth. Of course, Praetors get to have a break once in a while, but Frank seriously needs to manage and tone down what has to be done first. Reyna swatted her hand as if to shoo away some invisible fly. "We will take care of that later. For the meantime," she glared nonchalantly, "try to put on a _probation_ tag until we determine who your godly parent is. After that, proceed to the _principia_ for further questioning."

He stared at Reyna like she just grew a second head. "You haven't even answered my question! And I don't need to do anything, much less take orders from you. I need the answers, right here, and right now!"

Reyna sighed again. _"How did he even get here without knowledge of who he is?"_ she thought but she explained, anyway.

"Demigods are the offspring of a mortal and a god. Ever heard of it? While there are Greek gods like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena and the others, they also have a Roman counterpart. And all of us here are Roman demigods." She finished.

"So you're telling me that those myths actually exist?"

"Well, you wouldn't even be here if it didn't."

He scoffed. "Huh. Prove it." He smirked. "Tell me who your godly parent is then and prove it."

Reyna raised her chin as if to say _please, I'm _only_ the daughter of a goddess of war._ But she remained her composure. "I'm the daughter of Bellona. The Roman goddess of war."

"Madness! Prove it to me once again."

"How?" This guy is starting to get on Reyna's nerves. He eerily reminded her of the late Octavian; too persistent and too annoying.

"Fight us and if we lose, we'll follow what you just said a while ago." He smirked and got ready with his stance.

"_We?"_ confusion was painted on her face and she just remembered that Gwen mentioned demigod _brothers_. She looked around and she found him, alright.

"_Pluto's pauldrons…"_

Her breath got caught in her throat. He looked like Jason. With those blonde locks, blue eyes, he looked exactly like a mini him, minus the scar and the fact that the boy was much shorter than Reyna.

She quickly recovered her cool demeanor and unsheathed her dagger.

"What's that? Are you insulting us? Are you seriously gonna fight us with just a dagger?" he smirked.

Reyna ignored him. "A roman warrior isn't going down to fight without knowing even a little of his opponent. I ask you, what is your name?"

"Austin. Austin Pierce." And he nodded towards his brother, "That's Xander over there."

Reyna simply nodded. The other campers started to clear out. Then in just a split second, Austin charged with a godly speed and Reyna barely parried his sword with her dagger. He started throwing off his first attack but Reyna dodged effortlessly despite the weight her armor has been giving. She rolled sideways and attempted to stab Austin's side but she isn't really going to hurt him literally. She did it just for shock.

And it did catch him off guard. He stumbled a few steps back and gritted his teeth. But before he can regain his stance again, Reyna charged. They exchanged a few death blows and when Austin thought Reyna was too preoccupied, he shouted something unlikely.

"Xander, now!"

As she was busy striking Austin, from her peripheral vision, she saw an arrow whizzing towards her and just a split second before it reaches to scar her face, she raised her cloak which had been magically blessed by _the_ Athena Parthenos herself. The arrow bounced harmlessly. While the siblings were in a stage of utter horror, she swiped her leg that made Austin fall on his knees and she used her dagger to toss his weapon aside. She then walked towards Xander, giving her best death glare.

The boy cowered in fear and she felt a little sympathy for him. She towered over him as she raised her dagger in an attempt to slice his throat. But then again, she really wouldn't do it. The other campers gasped.

"P-please… We just want answers." He stammered.

Just when she was about to help him stand up, one of the centurions shouted something to Reyna.

"Praetor, we have a guest."

"Tsk. Who is it? Tell him to wait."

But as soon as the campers made way for the said guest, Reyna suddenly had a hard time breathing again. It was a tall, blonde boy with tantalizing blue eyes.

"_Jason."_ She thought.

"That's unlike you, Reyna. To pick fights with newbies, that is." He smiled a little.

She gaped at him. "What are you doing here, Grace?"

He grimaced. He's probably not used to Reyna calling him by his last name. "I just want to talk. Care to get some of your time?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. She gestured for Gwen and Dakota to take care of Austin and Xander. She unsheathed her dagger and followed Jason.

XX

Despite her futile attempts to convince Jason that they would talk at the _principia_, they ended up in her favorite place: The Garden of Bacchus. She sat by the fountain and thought awkwardly how to start a proper conversation. She seriously needs to work with her social skills.

And of all the things that she wanted to say, she settled for the safe question.

"What are you doing here?" Reyna asked.

He cringed. "You make it sound like I don't belong here. Like, _ever._"

Reyna poker faced. She doesn't know how to respond to that. She has mixed feelings about where is Jason's home, really. After sensing that Reyna wouldn't answer for the next few minutes, Jason started to talk.

"I just want to see how you guys are doing." He said wistfully.

Reyna frowned. "That's all you want? Well, as you can see, we're fine. So, I think you can go now." That came out harsher than she thought.

"Wow. I do miss that aggressive side of yours," he chuckled "frankly, Piper never had that kind of attitude."

She stiffened. "Wait. Where's Piper? Don't tell me you came here without her knowing?" She looked around, expecting the girl to magically pop up.

"Don't worry, she knew. She just had a simple quest right now with Annabeth and the Stoll brothers."

Reyna doesn't know what he's talking about, nor did she know who the Stoll brothers are. What Jason said made her doubts clear that he belonged to Camp Half-Blood. The next question though threw her completely off guard.

"How are you doing, Reyna?"

She looked up and was about to answer when he found him staring at her. She stared back but not long enough for him to notice the hurt in her eyes.

"I-I'm fine." She mumbled. "How are you, Jason?"

"I'm feeling grand, too." He breathed.

She studied him for a second. He's taller and gotten a little mature in a just a little span of time. The little scar above his lip is still visible, but he's still the same Jason she met a few years back. She can't believe though that he changed just a little because of that stupid exchange program that Juno devised.

Jason started to talk. "Y'know. When we first came here after my sudden disappearance, Piper felt a little jealous about you."

Reyna didn't like the turn of events.

"_Now, where is this leading?"_

"She said you're beautiful and powerful and very Roman. It seems like you can do everything in just a grasp." He continued.

She wants to cry. No. She can't do _everything_. She didn't even get Jason. But she remained silent.

"But I said she can be more than you."

That stung. Jason is dense but she didn't expect him to be _this_ dense to the extent of telling her straightforwardly how her girlfriend can be greater than her. She looked away as a single tear escaped from her eye.

"But Reyna, I've always looked up to you more than a leader. You are a woman worth respecting for."

He's mumbling nonsense so she decided to cut the chase.

"What is really your intention here, Jason?" she looked with such ferocity in her eyes and thankful to the gods that she didn't break down. Well, for now.

She sighed. "I- I just want to apologize, that's all."

She stared at him like that explains everything. "For what?"

"For leaving you with all the burden for the past eight months. I-I…" He seems at loss of words and for a split second, he looks troubled.

"What? Spit it out Jason." She demanded; she's losing her patience.

"I-I gave you a false hope that we can be together. And then suddenly, I returned with a girlfriend. I'm sorry, Reyna. I just want to properly apologize since it didn't end that well for us."

And that's all it took for her to explode. She breathed heavily and the tears were flowing non-stop.

"Just, just let it all out, Reyna." He took a step forward and was about to hug her but she felt somewhat disgusted so she took a step backward.

"No, no. Stop that, Jason. I don't want your sympathy. It wasn't your fault that you disappeared anyway. It's all because of Juno." She said distastefully as she waited for herself to suddenly turn into a peacock. "I'm fine, really."

But her appearance said otherwise. She broke down and she looks like a lost puppy. Jason seems worried.

"No, Reyna. You are _not_ fine, at all. I know that you want to say something to me."

Reyna started to wipe her tears away. This is so _not_ Roman of her.

"Is that all you came here for? I have some errands to do." She started to turn around but was quickly jerked back by Jason. He held her shoulders and looked down.

New tears started to form again and no matter how much she fought it, they seem to be going down on their own.

"You want the truth? Yes Jason. I hated it when you came back with Piper. I hated every minute of it when you talked senselessly about letting her roam all over New Rome. I hated the way you smiled at her. And I hated it when you- when you…" She had a hard time forming her own sentence.

"Hated it when what?" But Jason is so eerily calm to be taking all of this.

"I hated it when you left me!" She wiped her face, "there, happy?"

Jason looked down like he's embarrassed to show off his handsome face. "I'm sorry Reyna."

"The damage has been done, Grace. But as I told you, it's totally not your fault. It's just that," she smiled sadly, "you should've noticed my feelings before you disappeared. Could've that changed everything?"

"I-I guess." He looked up.

"But," she smiled genuinely, "I'm fine, really. It's probably a good thing that you came here. I guess that did me good to vent out what I'm feeling sometimes."

"I'm really sorry, Reyna. I hope the next time I come here, it won't turn out like this."

She held her chin up high; the sign that the original Reyna is back. Not the one who would suddenly break down at the sight of some boy.

"It's not your fault. And I've moved on. I learned not to dwell on things too much. And I really do hope you won't be coming back here with an apology, Jason. I'd hate that." She smiled.

"Yeah. That's so like you."

"So. I guess, we'll part ways here. It was nice meeting you again, Jason Grace." She shook hands.

Jason found it strange that she recovered this quickly but took her hand, anyway. "Me too, Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano."

She started to walk away, but turned around again. "Oh. And please do send my regards to Piper." She smiled one last time.

He looked like he wanted to say something but she turned around quickly. As soon as she had her back faced against him. Her smile faded.

"_My love for you won't change, Jason."_ She thought sullenly.

She really is a good liar.

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><p>AN: Sorry if there's OOC-ness? haha. REVIEW!


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